If there’s one thing we always hope for in a brand new generation of Pokémon, it’s a sense of childhood wonder. Of course, it’s not always a guarantee, especially with a formula that’s been consistently followed for the past 26 years, but we always start a new generation with our fingers crossed that we’ll be charmed out of the gate by the new creatures. collection and a whole new area to explore. And if anything has come close to recapturing the true magic we felt when we discovered our first Pokémon world in Red & Blue, it’s the vast and open Paldea region of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. It’s been a while since we felt like a kid stepping out of our Pokémon house and just looking out at the world and enjoying a taste of adventure. Despite some pretty major technical issues, this Generation 9 introduction nails that, even if it’s not the new Pokémon revolution that Legends: Arceus felt like. Download on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Delivered) Scarlet & Violet’s promise to be the first open-world game in the main series is not false. Every inch of Paldea is ours for the taking and we’re ready for adventure like the little kids who first got their Game Boys and took their first steps in Kanto. Adventure awaits, and it’s right on our doorstep. Except things don’t start out that way. You’re a kid who just moved to the Paldea region (sound familiar?), but instead of starting a brand new Pokémon journey, you leave home with your new neighbor and friend Nemona to join Naranja or Uva Academy. famous Pokémon school in the Paldea area. On the way to the Academy, you will meet a mysterious and powerful Pokémon (Koraidon or Miraidon, depending on your version) that protects and accompanies you. And, after meeting the teachers and students at the academy, you’ll soon be sent on a “Treasure Hunt” to find your own personal treasure out there in Paldea. However, it takes a while to get to this “treasure hunt”. Scarlet & Violet’s opening hours drag on, leading up to the big moment of freedom. This is especially strange since Sword & Shield managed to streamline the tutorials a bit, and with limited traversal abilities to begin with, we really had to push our way to get to the Academy. But it’s worth it just for how much the world opens up to you. Your only goals are to complete three main objectives – win all the Gyms, find the Mystica Herbs and take down Team Star. The location of all of these is marked on your map and you can do them in any order you want. That’s right – not a more structured approach. If you want to go to the northernmost area of Paldea first, then you can understand. The only thing you “need” to do is beat all three main paths to unlock a final part of the game. Download on Nintendo Switch (Docked) One of the most amazing aspects of Scarlet & Violet is the stories. Each of the three paths has its own narrative that ties into either the characters, the Academy, or Paldea itself, and it all comes together in a wholesome package. There are some really tender moments and many of the characters have personalities that are conveyed well, both through scenes and story moments. Your opponents and other NPCs are more involved than ever, and this is also a Pokémon game that isn’t afraid to surprise you. There’s certainly nothing spectacular, and it’s still odd that there’s no voice acting, although we want to give a special mention to the box art protagonists Koraidon and Miraidon – they have moments of vulnerability and (if you can believe it) adorableness as they look worried or even characters. They are some of the best legends in the series. Of the three paths, “Victory Road” will be the most familiar to veteran Pokémon trainers. Collecting eight gym marks is pretty much the rite of passage in Pokémon, and it’s pretty much the same here, except instead of traversing a gym puzzle, you’ll need to take a fitness test before taking on the leader. These can range from swinging a large olive around a maze to joining a stream and battling Pokémon trainers, and it helps to change up the formula a bit, and we found most of them to be a lot of fun. You can also do the gyms in any order you want, which means that, in a way, the difficulty of the game is in your hands. If you want your first gym to be the one with the level 30 Pokémon, then you can definitely do that, but with the caveat that you’ll eventually have to make that level 15 gym, and it’ll be even more important. of the cake. In a game where the “recommended” order isn’t much of a challenge, it was a nice surprise when we dropped into a higher level gym and actually had to put up a bit of a fight to secure the win. The gym matches themselves may lack the arena-level spectacle of Sword & Shield, but it makes sense given the variety of tasks you take on. Download on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Delivered) Scarlet & Violet’s other two runs offer a bit more variety in terms of your standard Pokémon gameplay. “Path of Legends” sees you take on Titan Pokémon to find Herba Mystica. Of the three paths, this was the most disappointing for us, and definitely a step down from Legends: Arceus’ Alpha Pokémon battles. All you have to do is find each of the Titan Pokémon, fight them once, hunt them down and fight them again. Because these are all new Pokémon, you feel pretty great when you find them, but they drop easily. Fortunately, this route might just have the best story of the three, bringing us to tears at times – the first time we’ve done so in a Pokémon game since Black & White. Starfall Street, then, is the biggest change from previous Pokémon games and uses the game’s all-new “Let’s Go” mechanic. With the first three Pokémon in your team, you must defeat a number of Pokémon in the team’s base in 10 minutes by sending your Pokémon out into the general world to take out the opposing team. It’s more of a hunt, and if you don’t have a type advantage or a decent Pokémon, it might as well be a roll. The only way to heal is by using vending machines, and if your three Pokémon’s health drops to zero, you fail and must try again. Succeed and you’ll face the base leader, who charges the most daring Pokémon car you’ve ever seen. Essentially, though, all three runs are just different ways of dressing up the series standards to collect badges and fight stronger trainers, which is what we’re doing now in Pokémon for yonks. Download on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Delivered) However, we’re glad that you’re not locked into either of these paths at all times and can pick and choose exactly when to take on what. You might decide to do all the gyms first, or switch it up and jump between objectives, but it never feels like a checklist the way some open-world games do. Instead, you’re left to find things randomly, even with every location and objective marked on the map. We definitely picked up a sign, so we had a good idea of where we wanted to end up, but we wandered off the beaten path too many times. And that’s the greatest joy of Scarlet & Violet – Paldea is your personal Pokémon playground. It’s a huge canvas where you can do whatever you want and go wherever you want. It’s not segmented into separate zones like in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and only one area is contained by the story, so you can really go anywhere… once you have the ability to get there. In order to get these abilities, you’ll need to upgrade your trusty companion bike Pokémon Koraido/Miraidon, which will happen naturally as you progress through the game. Otherwise, the world is in the palm of your hand, and there are secrets (hidden items, rarer Pokémon, and more) that you also uncover as your living, breathing Pokémon bike gets better. Download on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Delivered) We were also blown away by Paldea’s gorgeous melodies and beats, with Undertale’s Toby Fox taking on even more covers and melodies after showing his chops on Sword & Shield’s fantastic Tower battle music. His work is instantly recognizable to fans, from funky, jazzy tunes to electric, fast-paced tunes. There are also many variations of the battle themes and music from the world to suit the location or whether or not you are driving. There are quite a few different parts of Paldea that you can dive into in every corner: a large, vast wasteland. a mountain tundra; a lake that looks like it could swallow you. even a bamboo grove. There’s a lot to explore, then, though that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. As much as we enjoyed wandering around the open world, there were no real landmarks or sights in the area. We were hoping for something significant, like a large tree, a crater, or even a unique rock face or carving. Paldea will probably be remembered for its size and expanse, but if the bamboo forest is the most memorable location (aside from places we’re not allowed to discuss), then this Spanish-inspired location loses some of its luster.
Second opinion
While I can admire the developers for taking a bold new step for the franchise, the performance issues were even more of a sticking point for me than Alana. The game rarely hits its 30fps target in the open world, often has problems with its camera, and looks pretty uninhibited to boot. For every charming new monster design, there’s a visual glitch or inexplicably long pause when switching your active Pokémon. Arceus arguably had many of the same issues, and just like Alana here is able to enjoy the game enough to overlook those weaknesses in Scarlet and Violet, I saw right through the jank and stink the creamy joy that came out the game. .
